


Withstand The Fall of Time

by banana_oatmeal



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, If I'm nice I'll give them a happy ending, Looping AU, Mystery, Slight Obi/Saku, Time Loop, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-17 05:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12358962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banana_oatmeal/pseuds/banana_oatmeal
Summary: With his two original eyes back in his head, Obito feels like he can now bend time as well as space. But as life seeps out of him and things are falling apart, Obito resorts to a last ditch effort and sends Sakura back in time to the beginning of the battle that cost him his life. Can she manage to convince the old him to surrender and end this war? Will going back one time be enough to fix everything? Meddling with time awakens mysterious forces, and they seem to have a mission for Sakura. Slight Obi/Saku for now.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt it was weird how in the manga they would say Obito's eyes had the ability to bend time and space. The key word there being time. We never saw him doing anything with it, but I guess there wouldn't be any plot if Obito could go back and forth through time. I tried to write my take on it and I hope this isn't bad considering this is only my second story.
> 
> English isn't my native language and I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

 

Taking her flack jacked and ripping her right sleeve off, Sakura panted and clutched her arm in pain.

This dimension was one of the worst ones so far. She didn’t expect a sea of acid to pour out upon them and she barely managed to take Obito with her to safety. Unfortunately, she wasn’t fast enough to dodge the last bits of spray and the damn acid melted through parts of her jacket and shirt, burning her arm in the process. This dimension hopping was really taking a toll on both of them and her burnt arm didn’t make things better. Obito was barely holding on and if they didn’t find Sasuke soon, she didn’t think he would survive any longer.

Even with her borrowed chakra, he didn’t have the strength to fully stand up, but nevertheless he asked her if she was okay and if she wanted to rest a little. Sakura was touched and was about to refuse, when he suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his head.

“Obito, what’s wrong?”

“My eyes!”

Sakura could see more blood drip between his fingers that were pressed against his eyes.

“Sakura, I don’t know how much more I have it in me, the strain is becoming too much.” He grit out and bared his teeth in pain, as if every word hurt to speak.

“I’ll heal you!”

“No! Listen to me. Don’t waste your chakra on that,” he said with desperation in his eyes. “I don’t – Agh!” He clutched his eyes again and Sakura crouched in front of him to send some soothing chakra to his inflamed nerves despite his protests.

“Wait Sakura, you need to listen to me! Right now, things don’t look that good for us. If-if the worst case scenario happens and we don’t find Sasuke, I need you to know that there is one more option we could try.”

“What option?” Unease swept through her. What was he implying? She was sure they were going to find Sasuke. They just had to! She didn’t want to think about other options right now, she just wanted to focus on finding him.

“There is an experimental jutsu that I’ve been developing for years. I was suspicious about it working because I always felt something was missing. I now see that the thing missing for its completion was my left eye. I could always bend space easily with my right eye, but I felt like time was always more difficult to control and now that I have it back, I think that the left eye undoubtedly holds the power to control it. That means that it actually has a chance to work."

"Controlling time? What are you talking about, what has a chance to work?"

"It means that there might be a possibility to send you back in time."

Sakura’s eyes widened and she started to protest, “Obito-

“My chakra is waning and I don’t know how far back I would be able to send you, maybe to the beginning of the battle and it’s probably going to blind me completely in the process. So we would have only one shot at this. I would need you to lend me all of your chakra and even then we wouldn’t be sure if this works. It’ll be our last ditch effort.”

Sakura nodded reluctantly, this idea sounded really crazy and she hoped they wouldn’t have to test it out, “Alright, but can you try opening more dimension? We can’t just give up on Sasuke-kun like that!”

“I’ll try.”

* * *

 

And try he did, but after two more attempts to find Sasuke ending up as failures, the last dimension he opened closed shortly after, without him even being able to maintain in for more than a few seconds.

Obito panted, the pain in his eyes was becoming unbearable and his vision was starting to blur slightly. “I don’t think I can open another path.”

Sakura collapsed behind him, still holding his shoulders. Fear pooled in her gut and her stomach felt like doing flip fops, the realization was dawning on her, “So this is the end, huh?”

“I guess it really is,” he said quietly.

“But, why me? Why can’t you send yourself back in time?”

He craned his head back to look at her, “I’m dying Sakura. If it weren’t for your chakra I would be long dead already and I believe the jutsu would kill me anyway, but you at least have a slight chance of surviving.”

He could see the tears gather in her eyes, “Obito, I-I don’t think I can do this. This is a huge responsibility, a huge burden to bear.”

“This is your only option. It’s either this or death!”

She started crying then, his words were like a slap to the face. That was the reality. Everything was falling apart and all they had now was this chimerical hope, this pipe dream. When would it all end? She was so tired of this war and now he giving her this impossible task. She was just a nobody, a tiny spot in the bigger picture. How could she ever hope to change the course of war?

But in that moment she remembered her sensei’s words that were drilled into her from the moment she became a ninja. If she left behind her comrades, she would be worse than trash. She would have to persevere for them. Even if she got to live just one more day and go through this horror again, she would do it for them. She owed them that much.

In a way, she was grateful now that Obito even gave her this opportunity. She realized it was selfish of her complain about going back in time when he was going to die right there. She would have at least a few hours more to live when he had minutes.

“…Thank you Obito, for giving me this chance.”

This felt so bizarre for her. Just yesterday they were enemies and now she was thanking him and mourning his impending death like he was her closest friend.

 _He's sacrificing himself for me,_ she realized. At first she was weary of him, surprised at his sudden change of heart, but as they continued to work together, their teamwork became exceptional and they were in tune with each other. But now, with this final deed of camaraderie she felt a true bond form between them.

A sudden wave of affection for this tortured man in front of her overcame her. She crawled around him and hugged him tightly. She thought he was beyond saving but she felt so lonely in this vast dimension of nothingness that she needed to feel another human being, another beating heart. Sakura hugged him tightly trying to pour her gratitude through her touch.

Obito hugged her back reluctantly, and felt her wet tears on his shoulder. His own eyes started to fill shortly after, the tears mixing with blood. He was the one responsible for this hell they were in and yet, this girl had enough strength in herself to forgive him, to thank him, to cry for him.

Not that he had any other choice, but he knew now that this compassionate girl was a good choice to send back. He couldn’t fail this jutsu, even though he would have to make do with formulating it on the go. But at least it was a small comfort that even if they failed, death would be there to greet him and stop him from experiencing failure.

He heard her speak with a shaky voice still tick with tears, “I wish things didn’t have to be this way…In another world maybe we could have been true comrades.”

He hugged her tighter as if to confirm her words, and pushed her back after a few more moments. He felt cold from the loss of her body heat. “Sakura, we need to hurry up or your chakra will run out.”

“But I’m so afraid. How can I change anything, I’m not strong enough!”

He grabbed her head between his hands and locked eyes with her. “It will be difficult, it will be impossible, you might fail. But no matter what happens, know that we at least tried. I have faith in you,” he tried to give her an encouraging smile, but his lips only twitched up slightly.

Not wanting to linger any longer, he urged her, “I need you to focus and try to channel all of your chakra into me; I’m guessing the further back I want you to go, the more chakra we’ll need.”

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and grabbed his biceps to channel all of her remaining chakra from the Byakugou seal. This is it, they were really doing this.

She struggled with sending the right amount of chakra to him, if she sent too much there wouldn’t be enough left for her to keep fighting if she really managed to travel back. The more she poured, the more her panic was rising. If he didn’t tell her to stop soon, she would be left depleted and vulnerable and all of this would’ve been for nothing.

But he didn’t give her any signs to stop and with pleading eyes she looked at him, only catch his gaze and see the pinwheels of his Mangekyo spinning fastly. The minute they made eye contact she felt a strange pull at her stomach and black swirls engulfing her vision. Her hands were ripped from Obito and with a final look she saw him mouth ‘Goodbye’ before everything turned black and she lost consciousness.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura ends up back in past but will she make it in time to stop the events from unfolding?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was motivated to write a new chapter today but I don't know how often I will be able to update from now on since college starts again in two days. This was written in one go, without rereading, so I apologize for any plot inconsistencies.

In the middle of a deserted road a black swirl began ripping open the space and the body of a pink haired kunoichi was expelled violently from it. As it were trying to spare Sakura from the unpleasant journey through time, her consciousness pulled back from the plain of reality, but as soon as she entered the new world it came back to her in full force.

She fell on the hard ground with a soft ‘Oof’, groaning when the pain in her right arm began to register anew. She lay writhing on the cold ground, trying to remember how she ended up there. Her mind was fuzzy and her whole body hurt, but one thought was persevering through it clear and sharp. _I’m alive!_

Everything flooded back to her then. The war, the fighting, the desperation, Obito and… time travel? Was it true? Tears sprung to her eyes and she started grabbing random parts of her body as if to confirm that she was really there. She didn’t know if her tears were from joy or sorrow, but it didn’t matter now because the damn jutsu actually worked! Obito did it!

To anyone that was watching at that moment she must have looked like a mad woman, because she started crying and laughing at the same time all the while rolling on the ground in her torn clothes. After the uncontrollable burst of emotion subsided, she started wondering why _didn’t_ anyone say anything. Franticly, she picked herself up and studied her surroundings.

Next to the muddy ground she was lying on a few seconds ago were thousands of footsteps imprinted upon it, spanning along the path as far as the eye could see. She realized that this was the path that the United Shinobi Alliance took to reach the battlefield where Naruto and B were. Just a few hours ago, she was running along with them too.

This wasn’t good at all. If the United forces already passed through here, that meant that the battle was already in full swing and she was kilometers away from it. Why the hell did it throw her so far back anyway? She guessed that the experimental nature of the jutsu made it unreliable and that Obito wasn’t able to control the location of the time rift so well.

She cursed inwardly at this turn of events, she would have to spend some of her energy on running towards the commotion and not to mention the time she would lose. Every second had to count if she were to prevent the disasters from happening.

A sudden flash of light and a roaring sound startled her. She turned to look at the source of it and saw a giant column of pure white energy blasting into the sky, temporarily blinding her and illuminating the world. Her stomach gave an uncomfortable twist…this was the biju bomb that the four revived Hokage contained. In the past, she was right there when it happened, standing besides Naruto and Sasuke.

Adrenaline started to course through her blood and she sprang into a sprint right away. She wasn’t expecting the events already progressing this far. If she didn’t hurry up, Obito would turn himself into a jinchuriki again and she would be unable to help him. Only Naruto would be able extract the damn thing from him and that would leave him paralyzed, unable to defend against manipulation.

The air was burning her lungs and her muscles ached as they worked in overtime. She would have to go back into the war but without the advantage of the Byakugou seal. Now she only had her own small pool of chakra to drain from and she hoped that it would still be enough to turn the tides. Besides, there was always Naruto who could borrow her some of his chakra.

Running alone left her time to contemplate. If she remembered correctly, after the explosion the Juubi would split itself into small pieces and attack them. This was her time to shine in the past, but would she be there now? Would there be two Sakuras like in an alternate universe or would her old counterpart simply disappear? Her presence was crucial for healing the soldiers and if she weren’t there to summon Katsuyu again, there would be more causalities.  

She wanted to summon Katsuyu to ask her about the status of the battle, but she didn’t want to waste any more time and chakra. Soon, she would see for herself anyway. Willing herself to stop overthinking, she focused on coming up with a strategy to sway Obito to their side again.

It was possible, she knew, but she wasn’t Naruto who could look into people’s souls and charm his way into their hearts. From what little information she gathered before coming here, she figured it out that he saw himself in Naruto which made him angry.

Her best chance would be to tell him the truth and convince him that he was being manipulated, but considering how unhinged he was before coming to his senses, that might very well fail if he didn’t believe her. And there was also his connection to Kakashi to consider. She would have to work with that.

The roar of the battle was becoming louder now, and she could see the wasteland poking through the last few trees in front of her. With some more determined leaps, she emerged to the vast field of desolation. In the distance, the little Juubi beasts were wreaking havoc among the Alliance soldiers and she couldn’t see Katsuyu anywhere. Thankfuly, she saw Sasuke’s and Naruto’s summons leaping through the disfigured beasts.

 _Run, god damnit!_ She urged herself. Just a few more minutes and she could reach her comrades again.

In the midst of the frenzy, nobody noticed her arrival. There were no traces of her other self and the first thing she did after stopping was to bite her thumb and summon Katsuyu. She only summoned about the half of what she did last time, but even that could help some people regain their strength.

After seeing who summoned her, Katsuyu started to talk, “Sakura-sama what—?

“There’s no time to talk. Katsuyu, please disperse yourself across the battlefield to heal everyone you can.” The huge animal induced some surprised shouts and people rushed to her.

“Yes Sakura-sama.” As Katsuyu split herself into smaller pieces Sai, Shizune and some of her other friends reached her.

“Sakura, what the hell happened to you?” Shizune was examining her franticly. “You were standing next to Naruto and Sasuke and the next moment you just disappeared!” That confirmed her suspicion that her other self was replaced by her.

“And you are injured.” Sai added with some genuine emotion in his voice, which was unusual for him.

“I’ll heal you!”

She stepped out of Shizune’s reach “I’m sorry but there is really no time to explain or to heal, the important thing is that I am back, but now I have go and help Naruto and Sasuke-kun.”

Before they could stop her, she was running strait into the place where the tiny Juubi were rampaging.

“We’ll help you!” She heard them shout behind her.

Obito and Kakashi were still nowhere to be seen. _Good,_ she thought, _that means there’s still time. I just have to get closer to the big thing._

She punched her way as best as she could through the barrage of monsters, but she was still far away from Naruto and Sasuke who were making combined attacks at the ten-tails. At this rate her chakra was going to run out fast and without a way to go to them faster, she would be overwhelmed. Thankfully, Sai was close and he had the ability to fly her to the rest of their team.

Now airborne with Sai behind her on one of his ink birds, he started to direct it away from the battle and toward safer grounds.

“No, what are you doing?” She shouted at him angrily, “Turn back, I need to go there!”

“You’re going to get yourself killed, let them handle it.”

“No, you don’t understand! There is something important I need to do.” She searched her brain for a reason she could tell him and persuade him to fly her back. “Where I just came back from, I learned some important things that I need to tell them. It could change the course of war!”

This seemed to startle him and after a few tense moments, he gave her a short nod and started flying them back towards Naruto and Sasuke.

They almost reached the ten-tails’ body when she saw the familiar swirl open up on its head. _Shit, shit, shit!_ Panic was settling in her gut and she shouted at Sai to hurry up and get them to where the swirl opened.

Obito’s bloody figure dropped out and he lay prone while bleeding out steadily. Hope rose in her heart after seeing the amount of his injuries. She thought that this timeline could be somehow different than hers and that maybe Kakashi-sensei managed to mortally wound him while they were inside the Kamui. What she didn’t know was that the exact same thing had happened in her previous timeline and that she just wasn’t able to see it as she could now.

Her hopes were crushed in the next moment after she saw a black thing emerge and engulf the half of his body. _Black Zetsu,_ she thought frantically and from the corner of her eye a green light caught her attention. It was Madara! How could she forget about him?! He was using Obito to revive himself again.

Obito screamed and thrashed as he fought for control over his body. She urged Sai to fly to him, while Naruto and Sasuke ran along the Juubi’s back to fight him.  Before they reached him, Naruto’s dad flashed in front of Obito and slashed across his neck with a kunai, successfully knocking him out.

 _No, no, no, no. I’m too late. Fuck, I’m too late!_ She wouldn’t make it to stop him from becoming the jinchuriki, they would fail again. “No, he’s not dead! He’s going to become the jinchuriki.” She screamed at the men looking down at Obito’s mangled body.

 _Shit, where is Kakashi?_ If Kakashi was here, he could take him into Kamui and stop him from absorbing the ten-tails.

The men looked at her with surprise and Naruto shouted back, “I know, but how do we stop it?”

And that was it, wasn’t it? How the hell do they stop it now that the process is already under way? Everything has been for nothing, all this rush, all this sacrifice, all in vain. It would just end the same, this time in her death probably.

Obito started laughing maniacally and started sucking in the Juubi into his body. Naruto and Sasuke were swept away by Gamakichi while she and Sai still flew above witnessing the birth of the new jinchuriki with horror.

Sakura felt as if all the fight from her body has been drained and with misery thought that all hope was finally lost…she was cursed to witness their doom once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time we'll see what happens now that the shit hit the fan. Constructive criticism is appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’ll see that in this chapter Sakura is really confused, which relays my confusion while writing this. I literally had to take a notebook and write out all the possible plotlines in little clouds, with the final cloud containing “Wtf is the end game???” in big bold letters. All of the plot lines I wrote out seem to have ‘mysterious forces working in mysterious ways’ in them, so I’d like to revise that a little and actually come up with something. Until I’m done with that, I don’t think I can incorporate romance here but I’ll try. Oh and I don’t know how to write dialogue... it's just like real life hahaha hah ha *dies inside*
> 
> See you at the bottom where another looong note awaits.

Feeling at a loss, Sakura didn’t protest when Sai turned his ink bird away from the commotion. She knew what was coming and if she wanted to save her life, it would be in her best interest not to meddle in fighting the abomination that Obito was about to become. The rules stated that a medic was not supposed to be on the front lines, especially now that her Byakugou was gone.

Tears sprung into her eyes and her head hung forward with defeat. This wasted opportunity made her feel bitter and frustrated. She just knew that this was going to happen; she was never fast enough, never strong enough to change anything in the past, but she’ll be damned if she didn’t at least try now.

Her mind was working overtime to find something…anything else that could change the course of history. Unfortunately it was all a jumble and she was too focused on suppressing her cries and shaking that it left her unable to make any kind of strategy. Unless she managed to calm down, only these absurd ideas would come to her mind – Like trying to convince Madara instead of Obito. No, she decided, just like her arrival here, that would have to be a last ditch effort.

But no matter how ridiculous and absurd that idea seemed, her overly tenacious mind clung to it. Using that abundance of focus she tried to somehow modify that plan, to make it less dangerous somehow. If she could remember what Madara’s weakness was, maybe there could be another opening. Did he even have any weaknesses?

She tried desperately to remember how events unfolded in the past, but with things happening in such a chaotic way she had trouble organizing their exact flow. Not to mention that it all seemed so long ago for her, even if it happened yesterday. With her brain receiving so many stimuli, time seemed to dilate and give her an impression of events being longer than they were. She was slowly beginning to feel the exhaustion catching up to her, both mental and physical. By her calculation, it would be a couple of more hours until she passed the 24 hour mark without sleep – if 5 hours of broken sleep the day before could’ve been described as such.

Being so lost in thought she didn’t notice when Sai and she approached the ground, now a safe distance away. She jumped off the ink bird as it dissolved behind them. Upon impact her legs almost gave out, but she flexed her legs muscles quick and hard enough to prevent her from falling over. The sound of fighting distracted her and she watched Naruto and Sasuke fight with all their might against Obito.

From where she was standing among the scattered Alliance forces, she could feel the shockwaves spreading from explosions in the distance. Suddenly, another tremor hit them, only this one felt much closer. It seemed to come from the jagged cliffs on her right. _Ah, Madara got tired of waiting._ Soon the enormous blue Susanoo rose, and the winding tree branches of the first Hokage clashed with it in a form of some twisted titanic dance.

The soldiers around her stirred and gave shouts of disbelief upon witnessing the powers at play. She heard one guy close to her yell, “If this is how our ancestors fought, I’d hate to think what would happen to us if we joined,” his face betraying a mix of fear and bewilderment.

Sakura wanted to laugh at that moment. ‘What would happen to us if we joined?’ The worst thing that could happen was death, which was going to anyway if she didn’t think of a way to save them on time. _You better cling to that last few hours of life you have left buddy._

She felt a prickle in the back of her mind and a voice suddenly invaded her thoughts. It was Shikamaru using Ino’s mind technique telling them all not to be discouraged. The morale was low and the men and women clearly needed it. Sakura barely listened to him but it gave her an idea. If she could get to Ino and use her to relay a message herself, maybe she could achieve something?

But who would she contact and what would she say? ‘Hey, I’m from the future and there’s a goddess that’s going to be unsealed unless we—’ Unless we do what? What exactly could she say? “We need to stop Madara? We need to extract the Juubi from Obito?” As if they didn’t know that already.

She looked back Madara. He would have to revive himself sooner or later and she guessed that that would be time he was the most vulnerable. The main trick would be killing him before he became the jinchuriki; that would mean Kaguya would have no way to return…or at least she thought so. Only, Madara was still _extremely_ powerful even when he seemed completely blind and was mortal. And the minute he got his Rinnegan back, it would be almost impossible to damage him. How could she stop him from doing that? She continued to analyze the timeline silently and was suddenly struck with an idea:

To revive himself, Madara would have to use Obito’s Rinnegan. But what if she could send him away before he used it? There it was! At last, the opening she was looking for.

She remembered that Obito was left almost paralyzed from the extraction of the Juubi. That was the time Madara used Zetsu to take control of him, but there was still a small span of time where he was free willed. But how long would that be? Would she have enough time to persuade Kakashi who was also there and trying to kill him? If she explained her plan quickly enough for him to send Obito into the safety Kamui that would mean Madara couldn’t use Obito for Rinne Tensei. Obito would be left inside the other dimension with hopefully enough time to recuperate while they dealt with Madara outside, preferably sealing him.

The main problem was that she couldn’t contact Kakashi now, so she would have to be present the exact moment he came back, with a swift and clear message. For now, she decided, talking with Naruto would do since her plan meant she would have to wait for the perfect opportunity instead of race against time like she did last time.

It wouldn’t be long until their joined forces rid Obito of the tailed beast, but she’ll be damned if she wasted that time doing nothing. With her knowledge of the future, she was sure that she could help in some way. That’s why she decided to go to Ino; if she couldn’t physically be there to help her teammates fight, she could at least make them end the battle faster. This plan wasn’t flawless, but it was the best she could come up with at the moment.

As Sakura stood over the rocks she struggled to make out shapes in the distance. Last time she was here, Hinata provided feedback of what was happening with her Byakugan which could see the details from far away. In return, that gave her the knowledge of what Obito’s weaknesses were and she was now anxious to share that knowledge with Naruto and Sasuke.

She grabbed Sai to ask him if he saw where Ino was. After a pause he nodded but his face adorned a small frown. “Ugly, is this about those important things you said you learned after you came from somewhere? What exactly were you talking about and where is this place that you came from?”

“Yes to the first question and as to where I came from…It is the future.” She gave him a saccharine smile just to mess with him. There was no point in hiding the truth when she was going to tell it to Naruto anyway.

He just looked at her with his usual blank face, “Ugly, it looks like you finally cracked.”

No longer amused, her eyebrow twitched, “Look, just tell me in which direction I can find Ino.”

After pointing her in the right way, she ran as fast as she could, looking for a familiar head of blonde hair. She spotted her some hundred meters away kneeling next to Shikamaru and Chouji. As she got closer, her friend recognized her and leapt to her feet, “Sakura, you’re here!”

She stopped in front of her and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. It was utterly pitiful how this short run tired her so much. “Yeah, where else would I be?”

“Where else would you be?” While repeating her words slowly Ino’s voice was eerily calm, only to rise several decibels in the next moment, “Are you telling me you forgot how you just up and vanished in front of our eyes? It was just ‘poof’ and like you weren’t even there! I thought you deserted or that you died!”

She ignored the second remark but she couldn’t help but shout back, “Pig who do you take me for? I would _never_ desert!”

“Oh yeah? Then where the hell were you?” Ino just wasn’t letting it go.

“I was—“ She trailed off and decided that she didn’t want to waste time explaining when Ino was going to figure it out soon anyway. It was best not to tell her now, since Ino wouldn’t necessarily believe her and in the worst case scenario could even choose not to help her. _The less risks, the better._

“I didn’t desert and I came here because I need your help. It’s urgent!”

Ino continued to look at her with suspicion, but upon seeing the desperation in her eyes, she relented. “Fine, but don’t think you’re off the hook yet Forehead.”

“I’ll tell you later, I promise.” She wasn’t sure if she could really keep that promise, but it didn’t hurt Ino to hear that line.

“Okay, spit it out, what do you need our help for?”

“I need _your_ help specifically Ino. I need you to patch me up with Naruto because I have an important message to tell him.”

Ino rolled her eyes, “Well why didn’t you say so immediately?”

Sakura stuck her tongue out, but chose not to respond to the jab verbally. Without further ado, she walked over and touched Ino’s shoulder in preparation for the jutsu.

“Okay Forehead, give me a few moments to focus on Naruto. You’ll feel the connection open when I’m done.”

Sakura quickly prepared to relay her message in the best way possible for Naruto to understand. He was smart, but still, using uncomplicated words would be the best. By the time she was done arranging the words of the first few sentences, their minds were already linked. “Naruto, this is Sakura.”

“Sakura-chan?”

“Listen to me carefully Naruto. The way Obito is now, nothing can hurt him except senjutsu chakra.” She thought this message was as straightforward as it gets.

“How do you—?

“Don’t interrupt me! You also need to find a way to enter the biju mode completely. I think that you and your dad did something the last time, like, combined your chakra or something.”

“Last time? What?” Naruto’s voice was sounding so confused now that she could just imagine the look on his face. _He probably thinks I’m psychotic like Sai does._

“Shut up! Obito is going to summon the world tree after you hit him a couple of times.”

“The world tree?”

“Yes, it’s the final stage of the Juubi and that damn tree is going to suck the chakra out of everything it touches, so you need to make sure to stay away from its roots.”

“…” There was a pause on Naruto’s side and Sakura could practically his brain cogs turning.

When he spoke again, it was with his usual boisterous voice, “Alright Sakura-chan, thanks for the advice! I’ll try to do what you said, but how do you know all of this? Did someone tell you or something?”

“Naruto,” she took a deep breath, “I hope you are going to believe what I say next…I traveled back in time.” The moment those words fell out of her mouth, she felt Ino jerk under her hand but the connection didn’t break.

“Eh! Really? That’s awesome!”

She let out a small chuckle at her friend’s words. It figures that Naruto wouldn’t be the one to doubt her even for a minute, “Yes, really.”

“Well how did you get here? Was it a jutsu?”

“…It kind of is. I mean, Obito used his eyes to send me back in time.”

She felt another sharp inhale from Ino, Naruto sounded just as surprised. “Obito? You mean this guy that’s trying to kill us and destroy the world, that Obito?”

“Yeah, about that…you talked him out of it in the end so he was on our side.”

“I did?” He sounded doubtful.

“Yes, and that’s why I’m going to tell you all I know about that.” She proceeded to briefly describe everything about the battle, how he teamed up with Sasuke and how he used the Susanoo as a shield. How upon wounding Obito they seemed to have connected telepathically and shared emotions. 

“Shared emotions?”

“I’m really not sure what you did. After you all attacked Obito, you two were just hovering in the air and looking at each other completely immobile. I think your senjutsu chakra made you delve deep into his thoughts because the next thing we knew the biju were free again and he just gave up. Make sure you tell Sasuke-kun what I just told you about the Susanoo part, okay?”

“I will Sakura-chan. Thanks for the advice but I really need to concentrate now, he’s coming at us strong!”

“Wait, just one more thing! After the Juubi is extracted from Obito, make sure you stop anyone from killing him, we’ll need him later!”

“Umm okay, whatever you say Sakura-chan. I really need to go now!” He said with urgency.

She felt Ino break the link and the blonde slumped in relief. In the next moment she was on her again. “Okay forehead, if what you say is true, that means that you really didn’t desert.”

“I told you.”

“Hmph! Well, who the hell would think that of time travel? I still have trouble believing it even though I felt it’s true.”

“I don’t know what to say Ino. You can only guess how bad things were that I had to be sent back. The only thing I can say is don’t give up because we’ll fix this.” Ino didn’t look convinced. “I might need you again so be ready to help me, okay?”

“Okay. What are you going to do now?”

“There’s nothing I can really do but stay vigilant and wait for things to unfold.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that maybe, oh I don’t know, you should tell someone else the whole story? With that someone else being me or Shikamaru for example!” Ino threw her hands up in exasperation.

“Sorry Ino, I’m so tired that it really didn’t occur to me until you just said it. Besides, the less people know the less chance I have of Madara finding out and ruining things.” She felt slightly ashamed for her overlook, “But you’re right, if I die, someone needs to know the truth.”

“Don’t be so morbid Sakura, and remember, you don’t need to bear this burden alone.”

* * *

 

After some more convincing from Ino, Sakura agreed to confide in Shikamaru and Chouji.  They walked over to where the other two Ino’s teammates were and Sakura told them everything. Thankfully, Ino was there to vouch for her because by the look on Shikamaru’s and Chouji’s faces, they thought her insane.

By the time Sakura got to the part where she explained the circumstances of her arrival, their lips were set into a tight line and their faces were grim. She proceeded to tell them all of her plans of action, no matter how silly they sounded to her, in hopes that they could provide some insight.

“So if Kaguya gets out we’re toast?” Shikamaru concluded.

“Yes, that’s why we need to be very careful about our next move. We know that we absolutely cannot allow Madara to get access to the Rinnegan, so that’s why we need Kakashi-sensei to take away Obito.”

“Take him away? But where?” Chouji asked confused.

“Obito and Kakashi can both access a separate dimension with their eyes. I was planning to tell Kakashi to take Obito there so no one can use his other eye. I think Kakashi’s in there right now, but should be coming out soon.”

Ino perked up, “I can connect you to him as soon as he’s here so you can tell him the plan! You just need to stick close to me and be ready to talk any time.”

Sakura nodded, “That’s a good idea!”

Shikamaru was thoughtful for a moment, “Wait, Sakura, don’t you think destroying Obito’s Rinnegan would be a better course of action? It’ll be faster than just transporting Obito to the other dimension.”

“You’re right, destroying it _would_ be better, but there’s just one problem. There is creature called Zetsu, which is a being made from Kaguya’s will.” They all gave her blank looks. “Yes, I know, it sounds crazy. But that thing can take control of someone’s body and right now Madara thinks that thing is serving him. The minute we get close to Obito with the intention of destroying the Rinnegan he’ll latch onto him and escape. I still think that sending him into Kamui is the best solution since Kakashi can do it from a distance.”

“We should still destroy both of his eyes when we get the chance; they’ve been a huge nuisance.” Chouji grumbled quietly.

“Let’s try to refrain from that now we know what his eyes are capable of and because…I don’t know, I guess we owe him.” Sakura returned.

Shikamaru didn’t look too happy at her request but nodded nonetheless, “And let’s say Madara does get revived again, then we must protect Naruto at every cost. If the Kyubi gets ripped out of him, you don’t have enough chakra to keep him alive again.”

“No, even if Madara gets the Kyubi out of Naruto, another medic can keep him alive. The first time it happened I didn’t know that the Kyubi was extracted from him so I wasted a lot of my chakra on medical ninjutsu. All he really needed was for someone to pump his heart and push air into his lungs long enough for us to arrive to lord Fourth and reseal the other half of Kurama back.”

“Then Tsunade-sama or Shizune-san can do that if you’re unavailable?”

“Absolutely.” Sakura paused and cursed under her breath, “Damn, I forgot that if Zetsu stops Minato-sama from sealing the Kyubi inside Naruto again, we’ll need Obito to take the biju back from Madara. It only worked last time because he made it look like he was still on Madara’s side. I can’t be certain that things will happen like that this time around…Fuck, too many things depend on Madara not being revived.” Sakura hated how things only seemed to complicate more with solutions lacking. There were just too may ‘what ifs’.

“Alright, so you said that in the end Madara had both of his Rinnegans?”

“Yeah, but I honestly don’t know where he got the other one, I wasn’t anywhere near him then. What I know is that when he was first revived he didn’t seem to have it, like he was completely blind. He must have gotten it sometime in the process. ”

Sakura stood up to check the progress Naruto was making but without Hinata it was tough to analyze what her teammates were doing. She took a wild guess that the fighting would end soon. “Remember guys, he’s going to summon the Shinju soon so we need to warn everyone.”

“Right, we’ll go back to planning after, right now we should tell everyone to run when the roots come alive.” Shikamaru and Ino prepared to warn as much people as they could. Ino was already exhausted after helping Sakura and Shikamaru, so she wasn’t able to reach as many people as she wanted. Hopefully, the ones that did get the warning would tell the others.

Not long after, Sakura saw the gargantuan tree emerge seemingly out of nothing; its root’s spreading across the battlefield. People were panicking and running wildly away from the sentient roots. Sakura was relieved that more people seemed to accumulate near her on the edge of the battlefield than last time she was there. That meant that at least some of them listened to their warning and ran away on time. The tree still killed too many, but at least she doesn’t have to heal Shikamaru this time as the shimmering orange chakra cloak still envelopes him.

A ball of fear suddenly drops down in her belly. She thought that this was the time Naruto would give everybody his chakra, but she realizes that they already had it and she was the only one without the extra chakra booster. She curses herself for mixing up the events and bites her lip in worry. She’s running on fumes already. She was desperately hoping Naruto would gift her some of his chakra and rejuvenate her tired body. Now she has to think about getting to him on top of her other problems.

Sakura can see that Madara and the Shodai are getting closer to her as they continue to battle. She knows that Hashirama will warn them about the Shinju blooming and that it will cause a new wave of panic.

As the troops morale shatters again, she feels Naruto’s emotions and memories transferring onto them. Even though she felt it before, the weight of Naruto’s longing and loneliness hits her like a ton of bricks. But among the bad emotions she also feels his strong determination and the Will of Fire.

Like last time, his feelings encourage the crowd and Sakura wonders about this phenomenon. Until now, she never wondered how he was able to communicate with them telepathically like that. She suspects he did it when Hashirama was relaying the message through Ino but exactly how, she would have to ask him. If she could do something like that, her mission would certainly be a lot easier.

Sakura looks around but doesn’t see her shishou again. Tsunade and the other Kage must have landed somewhere further away from her this time. She doesn’t give herself time to ponder on this little deviation. She doesn’t give herself time to think about the butterfly effect and that her every small action could have unforeseeable consequences. Little deviations are just the beggings in the forming of this new timeline.

If she doesn’t get some chakra soon, she’ll be utterly useless. Without looking back she pumps the last remnants of her chakra and runs to find Naruto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fucking chapter was the bane of my existence. The words didn’t want to come and instead of going with the flow like I did in the first two chapters, I had to write huge drafts before continuing so I wouldn’t mess up. The second problem is my inability to express myself properly. I wanted to convey the characters feelings and describe some events so much more but I just couldn’t find the right words to do so. I had to open the thesaurus every few sentences or so, just so I could stop reusing the same words over and over again. At least this will help me improve my English even more. 
> 
> An explanation as to why Sakura was slow and couldn’t form rational thoughts or more elaborate plans: she was sent in time approx. 4-5 hours. In those five hours (in the previous time) a lot had happened and she experienced a lot of exertion. That means that when she came back in time she had 5 hours less sleep than everyone else and was significantly more exhausted. Now let me tell you something, Friday night I had a class that was three hours long, and by the end of it I could barely form coherent thoughts simply because I had to concentrate the whole time I was there. That was just concentrating on what the professor was saying. Now imagine not having any sleep for 24h, being exhausted and injured and on top of that having to come up with a plan to save the world. I think Sakura did fairly well in comparison.
> 
> Lastly, I am blown away by all the kudos and comments you lovely people left me, I’ve never expected this kind of response. Thank you so much for reading and I’ll see you soon… Hopefully.

**Author's Note:**

> Sakura will be looping trough time in this one, I just have to figure out how to write it lol. As for the Obi/Saku part, considering how Obito meets her for the first time in every loop, I don't think I can make this ship work. I really want to though, and if I manage to write more than one chapter of this fic I'll try to give them a happy ending.


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